It’s safe to say that the White House and other Democrats are not going out of their way to draw a distinction between people who purchase health insurance under Obamacare, and those who sign up for fully subsidized Medicare programs expanded under the law.

The White House is including those enrolling in Medicaid with the other number so everybody assumes Americans are buying health insurance plans, which in turn is supposed to eventually fund the entire operation (seven million need to purchase insurance in order to keep the books balanced, according to the CBO, and even that number is probably too low). Separating those enrolling in Medicaid from those purchasing plans tells the whole story, which is why the White House avoids it.

The disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov may have another serious problem: A CBS News analysis shows that in many of the 15 state-based health insurance exchanges more people are enrolling in Medicaid rather than buying private health insurance. And if that trend continues, there’s concern there won’t be enough healthy people buying health insurance for the system to work.

As the Obamacare website struggles, the administration is emphasizing state-level success. President Obama said Monday, “There’s great demand at the state level as well. Because there are a bunch of states running their own marketplaces.”
[…]
CBS News has confirmed that in Washington, of the more than 35,000 people newly enrolled, 87 percent signed up for Medicaid. In Kentucky, out of 26,000 new enrollments, 82 percent are in Medicaid. And in New York, of 37,000 enrollments, Medicaid accounts for 64 percent. And there are similar stories across the country in nearly half of the states that run their own exchanges.

That is something to keep in mind when the White House puts out stuff like this:

Notice that doesn’t say a word about anybody buying health insurance through the exchange, and for good reason: Nobody did. All of those 56,000 enrollees — all — signed up for fully subsidized Medicaid coverage. Not a one purchased an Obamacare plan to help fund the entire operation, though the White House clearly wants everybody to believe that.

If the trend continues, the nickname of the ACA should be changed to “Obamacaid.”